In 2025, fire departments serving Dayton responded to 130 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $803K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
842 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 146 | — | |
| 2022 | 224 | +53.4% | |
| 2023 | 205 | -8.5% | |
| 2024 | 137 | -33.2% | |
| 2025 | 130 | -5.1% |
For the 23 building fires Dayton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 380 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 53 | 13.9% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 49 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 47 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 34 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 26 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 6.6% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 107 | 28.2% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Dayton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 126 | 33.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 51 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 40 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 14 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 64 | 16.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dayton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $802,800 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $285,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $141,700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $140,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $55,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dayton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 62,793 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 27,870 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,450 | 26.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,480 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,080 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,035 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,018 | 14.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,747 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,610 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,600 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,560 | 37.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,281 | 47.3 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Tennessee cities with population within ±25% of Dayton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dayton.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.